Murron MacClannough

Murron MacClannough (died May 1297) was the wife of William Wallace. Her murder led to the action at Lanark and the start of Wallace's uprising against the English occupation of Scotland.

Biography
Murron MacClannough was born in Lanark, Scotland, and her father was a member of the local elite. As a young girl, she first met William Wallace at the funeral of his father, Malcolm Wallace, and she gave him a flower before leaving him. They met again at a marriage celebration in 1297, and Wallace would go on to secretly court and marry MacClannough, promising to teach her Latin and French. However, as MacClannough walked through the marketplace the next day, she was seized and raped by the English soldier Michael Smythe, and she fought back and escaped with Wallace's help. Before she could flee the town, however, she was felled from her horse by an English soldier and taken to the outpost. William Heselrig lectured the people of Lanark about how their unlawfulness would be punished, and he tied MacClannough to a post and slit her throat. Wallace avenged her death by slaughtering the English garrison, and he started a revolt against the English occupation of his country.